The Red Thing in the Sky

by TitanicIsBestShip

Rating: teen
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Romance, Original Character, Adventure, Princess Celestia
Length: 7764

A terrible mistake causes the western nation of Brismania to undergo a deavestating disaster. The question is, will a band of five ponies be able to stop it before it destroys Equestria too?

---If you have not read "An Astronomer's Light," please go read it, as you may not understand this story otherwise---
After a royal experiment goes horribly wrong, Celestia realizes that her plan to set Equestria above all other pony nations may have just doomed them all. As a Cascade Wall decimates the western island nation of Brismania, it begins to head for Equestria, de-syncing all in its path. As Celestia sends five ponies off on a dangerous mission to stop it, she realizes she may have just doomed all of pony-kind at the worst, and started a world-war at the best.

Published 2013-09-15 04:40:03 UTC
Last updated 2013-09-15 04:40:03 UTC

And many other miscellaneous things about nothing in particular

Chapter One: And many other miscellaneous things about nothing in particular…..

Scientists say that there are more anomalies and disturbances than normal space in the universe. Barzano wasn’t sure if it was true, but still, it gave him something to think about. Weekends were always awkward for him. During the week, he worked, but on the weekends, was he just supposed to stop? Well, there wasn’t much to do BUT work at the observatory. Like many previous weekends, Barzano sat in a chair, staring at the floor, wondering what to do. Suddenly he remembered something. He still needed to finish reading the remarkably strange book he’d been given a few weeks ago. Barzano picked up his copy of Daylight Starmapping - A guide to Deep Space Radio Telemetry.

“Maybe I should consider building one of these,” Barzano said to himself. “Radio telescopes are they? Sounds extraordinarily useful.” After about another 30 minutes of deliberating what to do, Barzano decided he’d take a trip to Canterlot to see where he might acquire the materials. “It’ll take the weekend just to get there and back,” Barzano chuckled to himself. Without a skyship, Barzano would have to walk to Baltimare and board a train for Canterlot from there. Mount Silver wasn’t very far from Baltimare, relatively speaking, but it would still be half a day’s walk there. “Better get a move on,” Barzano reminded himself. He packed some supplies in saddlebags, and headed down the mountain. Thank Celestia it was summer, he’d never of even considered walking down Mount Silver during the winter. Many ponies had died that way on mountains, simply getting lost, or even falling, when visibility dropped to 4 feet, was a real possibility.

Barzano’s walk went without a hitch, and he arrived in Baltimare at 14:00 hours, nine hours after he had left the mountain. Several ponies greeted him in passing, but most didn’t recognize him, even with his frequent trips to the city. “Hey Maxi, When’s the next train to Canterlot?” Barzano asked the station chief as he approached.

“Oh hey Bar! Haven’t see you in a while. The next train leaves at 17:20 hours. You’ve got a while.” 17:20? Wow, maybe I should have just walked to Canterlot. Barzano smiled at his thoughts. He sat down on one of the seats in the waiting area, wondering what to do next. Soon, his thoughts drifted to other matters, as they often did, but out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a blue pony with a light-orange mane pacing back and forth, constantly looking up. I wonder what he’s doing, Barzano thought to himself. He got up and walked over to the pony.

“Hey, why the pacing?” He asked. The other pony wheeled around.

“Waah! Oh, sorry, you scared me. Can I help you?”

“Why are you pacing?”

“Oh, I’m trying to get a better perspective of the rooftops.”

“What for?”

“Somepony requested a direct fuel line into his home, for whatever reason, And I need to make sure when it goes in, it dodges as many structures as possible.”

“Fuel? You have a job with the fuel companies?”

“Oh yeah, I inspect pipelines”

“Huh, that’s interesting. I order fuel a lot, and I’ve never seen you before. What’s your name?” Barzano smiled.

“Um, I’m Michael, you?”

“Barzano, nice to meet you!”

“Mmmm, what do you need fuel for? Or rather, what kind of fuel do you use?”

“Well, I won’t need any until I get a new skyship, my old one kind of, exploded”

“Oh yeah! I think I heard about that. Well, you just let me know when you need the stuff,” Michael said as he handed Barzano a card.

“Alright! I will,” Barzano responded as he turned to leave. Well that’s nice, but it reminds me. I need a new airship. He sighed. One thing at a time.

Author's Note

Characters used:
TitanicIsBestShip - Barzano, Flarania
DerpTime - DerpTime
Cloudbolt - Cloudbolt
Chefderpy - Michael

Special Thanks:
Chefderpy - Because every so often, I need to take a break and play league, and for letting me use his OC
DerpTime - For giving me a voice to hear, and for letting me use his OC
Cloudbolt - For his never-ending support, and for letting me use his OC
DJSquirrel - For putting up with me on TreeTime

IF YOU HAVE NOT READ “An Astronomer’s Light” PLEASE GO READ IT FIRST AT:
http://www.fimfiction.net/story/126418/an-astronomers-light

References:
Sailing Terms:

Windward: The side of an object the wind hits first
(Upwind)
Leeward: The side of an object the wind hits last
(Downwind)
Trim (sails): pull the sails in
Ease (sails): let the sails out
Let Fly! (Sailing): Completely release all sails
Let Fly! (Under Power): Halt the engines and let the ship drift/glide
Tacking: Crossing the wind across your bow (Going upwind)
Jibing (gybing): Crossing wind across your stern (Going downwind)
Come About: same as tacking
Hard to Lee!: throw the tiller to leeward (used when tacking)
Helms to Weather!: throw the tiller to windward (used when jibing)
Point up: Swing your bow closer to the wind
Fall off: Swing your bow away from the wind

Bow: Front of the ship
Stern: Back of the ship
Bilge: Very bottom of the ship
Fore: Towards the Bow
Aft: Towards the Stern
Upship: To pull something on board
Outship: To get something off the ship
Updeck: To rise up in a ship
Backdeck: To go down in a ship
Transom: The flat part of the stern (When facing the ship from behind)
Halyard: line used on the mast to raise and lower sails and flags
Sheet: line used to control sail trim
Amidships: Towards the middle
Beam of the ship: The width of the ship at its widest point
Abeam: At right angles from the middle of the vessel
Points of Sail:
http://knotalotsailing.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/points-of-sail-diagram.gif
Special Terms (Fic Related):
Brassball: a type of cannon shot, lightweight and cheap, but not very powerfull
Ironguns: cannons that fire iron shells
Thunderclapers: large cannons that fire lead encased with steel
GH-11 Repeaters: Civil War style gatling guns (fed from the top, operated on hand crank)
Rattlesnakes: Revolving cannons that fire anti-personnel darts which fling flechettes out of them as they fly

What a Pretty Sunset!

Chapter Two: What a Pretty Sunset!

The train left at abruptly 17:18. Two minutes early. Barzano had taken a seat near the back of the train, in a nearly empty car. He had a stack of mail in his bag he needed to read. He yawned as he pulled out the first envelope. ‘Mount Silver Observatory, from Equestria Innovations’ it said. “Junk,” Barzano said as he threw it in the wastebin. ‘Mount Silver Observatory, from Canterlot’ “Pffft, maybe I should have read these before hoof,” he mused. Barzano opened the envelope.

Mr. Barzano

I hope you’re enjoying that book! I heard about your accident, and I am terribly sorry to hear that, but I am glad you’re alright. Anyways, I have a job for you, the archipelago nation of Brismania is in great peril, come see me in Canterlot, and I’ll tell you more about it.

-Princess Celestia

“Hmmm, well that worked out nicely,” Barzano said, looking up from the page. He continued looking through his mail during the trip. After finally arriving at Canterlot Station, Barzano hopped off the train and headed towards the outskirts of the city, towards “Mountainside Engineers,” the large workshop where Barzano would order skyship parts, or in this case, a whole skyship.

“Barzano!” a voice cried out as soon as he walked through the door. “What can we do for ya’ this time?”

“Hello Garret, I need a new ship.”

“What happened to the old one?” Barzano made and explosion noise. “Oh, that’s a real pity. Ya’ got meh some plans eh?”

“Mmmhmm,” Barzano said as he handed the workshop manager a bundle of paper. Garret leafed through them.

“Are ya’ serious? I thought the Constellation was a lil’ rediculous! But this……..this is absurd! I mean, do ya’ have any idea what this stuff costs? Ya’ asking for aluminum, titanium, pure COPPER? Silver linings? Argon and Xenon gas? What’s gotten inta’ ya’?”

“It’s all necessary, here’s a 3500 bit advance,” Barzano dropped a bag of money onto the table.

“W-well then! I guess I’ll get to work, when do ya’ need this?”

“Yesterday”

“Oh, alrighty then! See ya’ soon, Bar,” the manager said as he walked off towards the back of the workshop.

Barzano arrived at the royal palace a few hours later. He checked the time: 19:00 hours. Well, I hope she’s already had dinner. As he walked to the gate, he was expectedly halted by a guard. Barzano produced the letter he had been mailed, and the guard let him by. Barzano finally found the princess’s quarters after some trouble, as he’d only been to the castle once before. “Princess?” He lightly knocked on the door, which was almost immediately opened in front of him.

“Hello Barzano,” Celestia said with a smile.

“You still recognize my voice? It’s been years!”

“You’re silly, I knew you were coming,” Celestia chuckled. “Come on in, we have something to discuss, although, I’m afraid it isn’t good.” Barzano nodded and followed her inside.
“So what’s this about?”

“Take a look at this,” the princess handed him a note. “Read it,” she said softly. Barzano cleared his throat.

“To anypony reading this, while on my voyages to Brismania, I have discovered a very strange phenomenon. At first, I thought it was a sunset off the horizon, but the next morning it was still there. This vast expanse of red. I also noticed that it was getting larger every hour. After a few days worth of sailing, I discovered that it was, in fact, a solid wall of red, as far as the eye could see. One of my sailors foolishly stuck part of his hoof through it, and when he pulled his leg back, the part he had stuck in was gone. He reported no pain or discomfort. With this wall ever expanding towards Equestria, I pray this letter has reached somepony of importance before it’s too late

-Captain Habakuk”

“I’m not sure what to make of this,” Celestia said, showing no emotion.

“It’s….” Barzano stared at the note, shaking.

“What? Do you know what this is Barzano?” Celestia questioned.

“Princess, are you aware that all atoms resonate at a certain, well, frequency, if you will?”
“I-I did not know that, no,” she sputtered, as if she had forced the answer.

“Well, are you aware of the Phasical Theory?”

“Ah! Yes, that I know of. What are you saying Barzano?” Celestia looked at the floor.

“I-if...if you change the resonance of atoms, you can desynchronize atoms, or, put them out of phase, and the more I think about it, the more this “Red Thing” sounds like a resonance wall,” Barzano’s face paled.

“A-a w-what? Barzano! How bad is this?” Celestia asked, again forcing emotion.

“Theoretically, if you desynchronize a large amount of atoms too quickly, the effect can cascade, forming an ever-expanding wall, desynchronizing all it touches”

“Can it be stopped?”

“Y-yes, possibly. It would ta-”

“Could you do it if you had the resources?”

“Possibly! We don’t even know that’s what this is!” Celestia took a slip of paper out of a drawer, wrote down a short memo, and handed it to Barzano.

“Recruit whoever you need, use any resources you can, and go fix this”

“Princess! I can’t be su-”

“Go! The fate of Equestria is in your hooves! I’ll make sure my citizens don’t panic, YOU need to stop this!” Celestia sighed as Barzano backed out of her room. “He better not fail….I’m ruined if he does,” she muttered to herself.

The Ship, the Crew, the Critical Mass

Chapter Three: The Ship, The Crew, The Critical Mass

Barzano walked back into his observatory. He still had to wait a day or two for the Highlander to arrive at Canterlot’s sky harbor. Celestia had reserved the airship for his use, but he still needed to acquire a crew and a method of stopping the Red Wave. “Argh,” he muttered, “I need a crew of four. Seems like an easily small number, but I don’t know anypony I- oh wait. Yes I do.” Barzano took out a piece of paper and wrote a few names down. He hopped in his small skyrider and headed out for the Frontier.

Barzano landed his skyrider directly outside of the Frontier Service’s Outpost 14. He trotted up to the door, opened it, and saw the chaos that was “time off.” Frontier ponies were all over the place, playing cards, engaging in loud conversation, sharpening blades, some even drinking. He suddenly heard a familiar voice speak up.

“Hey! We have a guest! Everypony shut up!” a white pegasus said in a commanding tone. “Barzano?”

“Hey Cloudbolt. Nice to see you. You get reassigned?”

“Oh yeah! They made me outpost spotter after I saved you guys. Hang on, I think somepony else would like to know you’re here,” Cloudbolt said with a smile as he walked out the back door. Barzano opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped and chuckled.

“Barzano!” A tan pegasus mare with a creamy yellow and green mane bounded across the room, landing in front of Barzano and wrapping him in a warm embrace.

“Nice to see you too, Flarania!” He laughed and returned the hug.

“Mmmhmm! Hey, not that I don’t want to see you, but why the random visit?” Flarania asked.

“Yeah Barzano, why are you here?” Cloudbolt questioned. Barzano spent the next half an hour explaining the situation to them, further stating that he needed a four-pony crew.

“Of course we’d be willing to help!” Flarania said.

“It’s for the good of Equestria right? Ya’ know, ‘Save the World’ kinda thing? Yeah, I’m in,” Cloudbolt confirmed.

“Alright, great! We need to hurry though, I have to more ponies to ask, and you two need to look at the ship design,” Barzano said. The trio boarded the skyrider. Barzano took the helm and steered them towards Baltimare.

“I can’t wait to see your new ship Bar!” Flarania said excitedly.

“I actually don’t have a new one yet,” Barzano said, “We’re using the Highlander, courtesy of Princess Celestia.”

“Wow, this must be serious,” Cloudbolt said.

“Oh yeah, ya’ know, ‘End of the World’ kinda thing?” Barzano told him.

They arrived in Baltimare, fuel tanks completely dry. “Who exactly are we picking up?” Flarania asked.

“A pony I met here a few days ago, and then we have to head for Canterlot,” Barzano said. “And to be honest, I have no idea where he is.”

“Oh, wonderful,” Cloudbolt said, rolling his eyes. The trio searched for quite some time before finally finding a site under construction. Barzano told the two of them to wait as he walked over to a few ponies working on a small pipe.

“Michael?”

“Oh hey, what can I do for you?”

“You remember that fuel I talked to you about? We’re ganna need it,” Barzano said. Michael pulled a pad of paper and a pen from one of his jacket pockets.

“Alright, give me the specifics”

“Right, I need refined petroleum, approximately a thousand gallons of it”

“You realize how much that’s going to be, right? What kind of ship are you using it for?”

“Princess Celestia herself has sent me on a mission, and to aid me in my task, she granted me use of the Highlander, a type V steamer. Her burners run off petroleum, not coal,” Barzano explained. “Which reminds me, I need two more ponies to help me crew the airship. You wanna take a crack at saving the world? We could use an engineer.”

“Um...I inspect oil pipelines. I don’t build them…”

Flarania piped up, “Well, the last ship crashed because of a fuel leak. You could probably see the signs of stuff like that before any of us could.”

“Right, and I’ve worked with airships for years, I could fix the problem, well, probably, but it’d be nice to have somepony walking around the ship, making sure everything was working,” Barzano said.

“Uh..I dunno. You mentioned something about saving the world. How would we be saving the world?” Michael questioned.

“Do you know what atom desynchronization is?” Barzano asked him.

“It’s, like, when the harmonics of matter change, and it sorta disappears,” Michael responded.

“Yeah, and do you know what a Cascade Wall is?”

“Yes…..are you serious about this?”

Cloudbolt joined in the conversation, “Yes, we’re completely serious, and if we don’t stop this, Equestria will be destroyed.”

“Alright, if it’s for the good of Equestria, I’ll do it,” Michael said.

“Great! No time to lose though, we need to get the skyrider fueled and in the air,” Barzano said the the group.

A lot had changed in Canterlot overnight. Civilian ponies were all indoors, and the streets were filled with Royal Guards, Frontier Service ponies, sailors, skysailors, and scientists. Once the group had landed, it took them some time to reach the Grand Castle, and even more time to get through the gates. Princess Celestia was in a meeting at the time of their arrival, so the group decided they’d wait outside her room. They didn’t have to wait long, however, as after seven minutes of waiting, Celestia came walking down the hallway.

“Hello Barzano, how are the preparations coming along?” she asked, forcing a smile.

“Eh, they could be better. I still need a 4th crew pony and I still need the device built,” Barzano responded, “But the fuel’s on its way.”

“Device?”

Barzano chuckled. “The Elements of Harmony aren’t the solution to everything Princess, I need a certain device built.”

“Alright, don’t worry, you still have some time, but tell me what you need,” Celestia told him as she motioned for a nearby assistant to record Barzano’s rambling.

“Ok, for the ship, I need a steamstack turbine power system installed. After that, I need a radio telescope built and wired to the turbines. Now the device I’m going to use is going to be a lot harder to create. I need a small chamber built, four inches by ten inches. I’m going to need some composite U235, with a critical mass of 3.4 tons, float-stacked at the bottom, with a small ferrous iron bar running from the U235 to the top of the chamber. This bar needs to have a rail slit in it, and it needs to be magnetized. Now, I need a neutron, a single neutron, placed at the top of the rail slit in such a way that when the magnets engage, the neutron is fired into the U235. Did you get all that?” Barzano asked.

“Barzano….” Celestia stared at him, actually shocked for the first time, “You know what you’ve just explained to me is a weapon of mass destruction, right?”

“‘Course I know that, what do you think is going to power my resonator? Speaking of which, I need an aluminum box with four geocentric holes, and titanium five inch coils coming out of them. The device needs to be powered, and a very high voltage electrical current needs to run through copper rods inside the coils. The titanium coils must be set on motors, and rotated, thus creating, a Polarized Energy Transfer Device,” Barzano said.

“I honestly, have no idea how you plan to reset the harmonics of lost particles with that, but I hope it works,” Celestia said encouragingly. Her assistant was sweating as he tried to write everything down.

“It’ll work, it’s what was used to desync the atoms in the first place. Anyways, set a timer system on the device for three minutes after activation,” Barzano said.

“Right, well, I need to go calm some ponies down, the Highlander is ready for you, you can start loading supplies and fuel as soon as you have them,” Celestia quickly walked off the way she had come in. The group of four made their way to the Highlander, and each of the ponies hopped on the ship.

The Plan, the Intergrity of the Group

Chapter Four: The Plan, The Integrity of the Group

“Ok,” Barzano said, speaking to the group, “This ship is relatively small, so try to memorize its layout. I am going to go look for another crew member.” Barzano trotted back into the city. He passed a fountain, and stood there for a second. Now, where should I look? He wondered. Just then a tan unicorn with a dark brown mane approached him.

“What’s with all the commotion?”

Barzano turned around, “Oh, all this? Oh yeah. There’s a Cascade Wall approaching Equestria, whole, ‘end of the world’ kinda thing.”

“Hmm? Oh, not a big deal,” the stallion responded.

“What? Yes it is! I’ve been sent by The Princess herself to lead an expedition to stop it. And I’m actually looking for another crew member, what’s your occupation?” Barzano asked him.

“Uh, I try a lot of different things. No real cut-and-dry skillset”

“Well, you wanna take a crack at saving the world? It’d be nice to have another unicorn on board,” Barzano said with a smile.

“Well, sure, I mean I don’t have anything better to do,” the brown pony sighed.

“Alright, what’s your name?”

“I’m DerpTime...”

“Barzano, nice to meet you!” Barzano led DerpTime to the waiting airship, introduced him to the group, and then called everypony to attention. “Alright, I know it’s getting late, but here’s our plan of attack. We leave next morning for the wall, steam right up to it, and throw the device into it. If all goes well, the wall should start slow collapsing, and we can go home.”

Cloudbolt raised his hoof, “What happens if this thing doesn’t work?”

“Then we’ll hit the wall, and we’ll all die,” Barzano responded sternly.

“Not that we will...” DerpTime muttered to himself.

“Think about it Derp,” Barzano locked eyes with him, his tone graver with every word, “If we desync, we won’t be able to interact with the synced world, that includes the sun. Everything behind that wall is barren.” The six of them sat in silence.

“Y-y-you mean….everypony that’s been hit is dead?” Flarania asked softly.

“Yes. All the plants, all the animals, all the ponies, everything,” Barzano said.

“So if we screw up, we’re done?” Michael asked.

“Pretty much,” Barzano responded. Those words ended the conversation, and the five of them went below decks to get some rest. However, as they walked into the hallway where the crew and captain’s quarters were located, the ponies saw that there were only four doors, and four beds.

“Well, this isn’t going to work,” Cloudbolt said.

“Right, I suppose two of us will have to double up,” Michael suggested.

“Uh, no, I’ll sleep on deck,” Barzano told them quickly.

Flarania quickly spoke up as well, “I’ll sleep on deck too, I like the open air more anyways.”

“Alrighty then good night everypony,” Cloudbolt yawned and walked into one of the rooms. Flarania hurried updeck, and Barzano turned to follow her when DerpTime tapped his shoulder.

“Mmm?” Barzano turned his head.

“Something about me….”

“Sure,” Bar yawned.

“You know how you said that it’d be nice to have another unicorn on board?”

“Mmmhmm”

“Well, I can’t use magic”

“Oh…that’s alright”

“Yeah….”

“That’s fine, we’ll find some other use for you,” Barzano walked up to the deck, leaving DerpTime in the hallway.

“Hey Bar,” Flarania said.

“Oh, hey,” Barzano sat next to her.

“Pretty city from the skydocks!” Flarania exclaimed.

“Oh yeah, it really is”

“Too bad it might be the last time we see it…” Her words trailed off. Barzano put a hoof over her shoulders.

“We’ll succeed, don’t you worry”

“I know, I’m just scared. This is the first time in my life I’ve had to confront my possible death,” Flarania said solemnly.

“Yeah, but we’ll make it, don’t worry,” Bar reassured her.

“I hope so….”

The Voyage

Chapter Five: The Voyage

Cloudbolt woke up the next morning at 0740 hours, but to him it felt like four in the morning. He yawned, rubbed his eyes, got up, and walked out the door down to the kitchen. Cloudbolt took some coffee out of one of cupboards and began boiling some water. After he had finished making his cup ‘o joe, Cloudbolt headed updeck. Barzano was already up and at the helm, looking at a map. He looked up from his console. “Morning Cloud,” Barzano said.

“Morning, hope you don’t mind, I helped myself to some coffee,” Cloud said.

“That’s fine, I don’t drink coffee”

“That explains why you’re so tired and stressed all the time,” Cloudbolt said lightly.

“If you noticed, I woke up before you”

“That’s true, hey, where’s Flarania?” Cloud had to look for a second before he spotted the tan mare sprawled out at the bow. “Wow, she blends in with the deck.”

“Mmmhmm, hey, you wanna take over?” Bar asked him.

“Fly the ship? Wait, are we-” Cloud looked off the stern, and to his surprise, saw only clouds. “How did I not notice that? Anyways, you want me to fly the ship?”

“You’re the pilot aren’t you?”

“I thought you were too…”

“I am, but I’d rather not. I hate this ship’s handling”

“Well, ok,” Cloudbolt traded places with Barzano, who walked over to the sleeping Flarania and sat down. Cloudbolt chuckled. “You’re funny. Flarania is like, the polar opposite of you in personality. I don’t know how you two are together.”

“What? We aren-”

“Oh, don’t give me that Bar,” Cloudbolt said “I know how this stuff works.” Barzano just looked at him for a few minutes before speaking.

“So what’s been happening on the frontier?”

“A lot actually, we’ve been clearing a section of jungle for a sky harbor, and we started setting up a southern perimeter to keep bad stuff out”

“Fun. You fly much these days?”

“Yeah, pretty often. I got issued a nice skyrider, gotta admit though, yours is a ton better”

“Mmm, well thanks,” Barzano looked at Flara, who was beginning to stir. She stretched and yawned before blinking open her eyes.

“Wuh? Oh, hi Bar,” Flara said wearily.

“Good morning! Sleep well?”

“Yeah, pretty well, what time are we leaving port?” She asked. Cloudbolt started laughing. “What?” Flara scowled at him. “Oh,” She said, taking a look around her. “What time is it?”

“It’s 0810,” Barzano said. Flarania facehoofed.

“Really? You were up longer than I was! How did I sleep that late?” She questioned herself. Cloudbolt laughed again.

“Flarania, you ALWAYS sleep that late!” He said. Flara shot Cloud a glare. As Cloud was finishing his laughs, Michael and DerpTime emerged from below decks.

“Ah, hello Michael? How’s my ship?” Barzano asked him.

“What? Oh. She seems in good working order,” Michael responded.

“Good to know. Well, we have a long while to go, so let me tell you all what your jobs are. Flarania, you’re my spotter, make sure Cloudbolt sees everything within 300 yards of the boat. Cloudbolt, you’re the helmsman, Michael, make sure nothing blows up, and lastly, DerpTime, you’re my navigator. Write down and draw landmarks you see so we aren’t way off course on the return trip,” Barzano explained. The ponies, excluding Barzano, went to their specific tasks, while Bar went backdeck to examine his device. He stared at the mess of parts that was to be the solution to all this, and the only thing standing between a normal Equestria, and total annihilation. Barzano sighed. He hated only having one shot at something, but there was no way to test this device. As he stood there, his thoughts seemed to wander off, and Barzano stood behind the device. He did not hear the approaching hoofsteps or the sound of the door opening.

“Barzano?” a familiar voice called out.

“Wuh, huh?” Barzano lifted his head to see Flarania in front of him. “Oh, hey there.” He smiled.

“Hey...I was wondering if I could talk to you for a bit, would that be ok?”

“Um, sure. What do you want to talk about?”

“Uh, can we do it on the top deck? I don’t want to neglect my duties,” Flarania said.

“Oh, that’s fine,” Barzano said. The two ponies walked up the stairs to the lower deck. As they passed the helm, Cloudbolt stopped Barzano.

“Wait, Bar,” Cloud said.

“Cloudbolt?” Flarania looked at him.

“You keep going Flara, I need to talk to Bar real quick,” Cloudbolt smiled.

“Oh, ok….” she started walking up the stairs.

“Alright Cloud, what’s this about?” Barzano asked him.

“Hey, listen to me. Flara’s scared. You notice how she’s been real down lately? Well, she’s NEVER this sad! Ever! She needs you man, you gotta be there for her”

“Uh...w-well...um”

“You love her don’t you?”

“W-well, yeah”

“Then show her some affection! Don’t let her drown in misery!”

“Alright, that all?”

“Yeah, you’re lucky to have her, so make her happy, alright Bar?”

“Ok,” Barzano headed up the stairs. During all this, DerpTime was sitting in his room, with nothing to do. He didn’t have to write anything down until they reached the ocean, as he knew Western Equestria well.

“Mmmeh…” He sighed. “I think I need a sandwich.” DerpTime rose and began walking down the hallway. As he passed Michael’s room, he heard some strange sounds. They sounded like panting and snorting. “Mmm?” DerpTime cocked his head and stood there for a second. He decided to open the door, and when he did, DerpTime found what looked like a battlefield hospital. Towels and tissues were strewn everywhere, and the whole room was covered in blood. DerpTime stared at Michael, who looked up, blood streaming from his nostrils.

“H-hey! Could you help me clean this up please?” Michael asked. DerpTime abruptly slammed the door and walked updeck.

“Cloud, I think somepony downstairs needs your help,” he said in complete monotone.

“Uh, ok? What happened?” Cloud asked, confused.

“Leakage,” DerpTime stared at him. Cloudbolt’s eyes went wide.

“WHAT?” he yelled.

“Just, go downstairs,” DerpTime said. Cloudbolt paused for a moment as he considered whether or not the problem below decks was urgent enough for a pilot to be necessary. Since he didn’t know the details of the situation, and DerpTime was right there, he decided it couldn’t hurt.

“Can you fly an airship?” Cloudbolt asked.

“I can keep it from crashing…”

“Alright, do that,” Cloudbolt said as he trotted backdeck. “This better not be what I think it is,” he muttered. Cloud poked his head in Michael’s room. “Everyt- Oh, Sweet Celestia….” he said.

“Oh, hi there. Can you lend a hoof?” Michael asked.

“Sure,” Cloudbolt chuckled as he helped Michael clean up the mess.

Barzano walked on to the top deck. “Flara? Oh, there you are.” Flarania turn her head to look at him. She was sitting by the rail, looking forward at the horizon. Barzano went over and sat next to her, putting a hoof over her shoulders. “Hey there, you alright?” He asked. Flarania stared at the deck.

“Ye-....no...I’m not….”

“You can tell me,” Barzano smiled.

“I just...I dunno!” Flarania yelped as she buried her face in her hooves. Barzano patted her on the shoulder and brought her in a little closer.

“Hey, I’m here for you,” he told her. Flara wrapped a wing around him and put her head on his shoulder, tears welling up in her eyes. “We’ll make it, don’t worry,” Barzano said. He looked across the sky. It was a beautiful sight, the countryside from the air, but not quite as beautiful as the mare now sleeping next to him.

* * *

Cloudbolt had been at the helm for several hours, and his stomach was starting to get to him. He looked at the clock behind him. “12:32” it said. “Oops, time for lunch,” Cloudbolt said to himself. He locked the wheel and raised the code flag “November” over the code flag “Papa” signalling “No Pilot.” Cloudbolt went backdeck to the kitchen. He started opening cupboards, taking a look at what was available. “Hmmmm…” Cloudbolt mused. “I think I’ll make soup. Soup is easy,” he said to himself. He started pulling out bowls and ingredients for tomato soup. Cloudbolt began cooking for the five of them. He was finished at 13:17, a little less than an hour after he’d started. “Lunch everypony!” Cloudbolt called. He stood in the doorway waiting, but nopony showed up. “Urrrgh…” Cloud sighed, “I’ll have to go fetch them all.” He walked updeck, and found DerpTime sitting at the bow drawing, or holding something in his hooves. Cloudbolt couldn’t tell exactly what he was doing. There seemed to be a peculiar element about DerpTime. He seemed totally calm, like he was in control, but apathetic at the same time. Cloudbolt puzzled at how he’d joined the crew with a seeming complete disregard that his own life might be lost. Cloud shook his head, clearing his thoughts. “Hey, DerpTime, lunch is ready.”

“What’d you make?” DerpTime asked, still focused on what was in his hooves.

“Tomato soup”

“Oh….ok…” DerpTime got up and went backdeck to the kitchen.

“One down,” Cloudbolt sighed and continued updeck. He poked his head up out of the staircase, and saw Barzano and Flarania sleeping on each other. Cloudbolt laughed softly, then walked backdeck to the kitchen, where he found Michael and DerpTime already eating.

“Gerrd serrp!” Michael slurped between spoonfuls. DerpTime didn’t pick his head up at all.

“Riiiight……. you’re welcome,” Cloudbolt muttered as he grabbed two bowls of soup and walked up to the top deck. Both ponies were still sleeping, so Cloudbolt left the two bowls and walked backdeck. His legs were starting to kill him. When Cloud arrived back at the kitchen, all that was left was a royal mess and a cold bowl of soup. He sighed. “Maybe I help other ponies too much…”

Barzano had awoken shortly after Cloudbolt had left his bowl of soup. It was still warm when Barzano started eating it. After he finished, he walked back over to Flarania, who was now awake, and offered her a bowl, which she gladly accepted. They sat in silence why she was eating, and then proceeded backdeck. As Barzano popped his head around the corner where the conn was located, he saw Cloud, Michael, and DerpTime all crowded at the bow, staring directly ahead.

“Look at that!” Michael exclaimed. “That’s really something!” Barzano looked at Flarania, who shrugged. The pair walked over to see what was up.

“What is everypony looking at?” Barzano asked the group.

“See for yourself!” Michael responded and waved his hoof at the horizon. A vast array of vessels could be seen by the five ponies. As they neared the ocean, all sorts of skyships appeared. Type one steamers, type four landables, even some Achranoplans. It appeared as though Brismania had flung everything she had into the sky. And it was all heading towards them.

“Those aren’t R.E.A.N. vessels..” Cloudbolt said. “They’re civilian. All of them.”

“R.E.A.N.?” Michael looked at Cloudbolt.

“Royal Equestrian Air Navy,” Cloud and Barzano responded in unison.

“Oh sweet Celestia, they’re running!” Flarania gasped.

“We’re getting close,” Barzano said.

Run the Gauntlet

Chapter Six: Run the Gauntlet

The ship Deringer wars a type three skyship freighter, a merchant vessel. She wasn’t very large, only 75 feet, and between her smallish size and her large diesel-electric engines, the Derringer could outrun most skyships. Her captain, Cold Stone, had commanded her for fourteen years, and that had almost been brought to an abrupt close when the “Red Thing” almost hit them. It was supposed to be a routine supply run to the Galapaghorse islands, but if it wasn’t for the Derringer’s speed and agility, she would have been lost behind that wall of red. Her agility wasn’t the only thing that kept her safe. The Derringer made many long distance runs, and speed wasn’t going to save you from a pirate ambush. Most skysailors thought pirates were a joke, but they existed in force outside of the mainland of Equestria, and that’s where the Derringer voyaged. She boasted four medium brassball swivel 75mm guns on her bow, fantail, and port and starboard wings. To accompany the cannons, the Derringer carried two GH-11 repeaters, one on her foredeck, one on her afterdeck. “Captain! We’ve sighted a ship flying the Equestrian Battle Standard!” the ship’s Bosun's Mate shouted.

“Bearing?” came the captain’s gruff reply.

“Oh-two-five-oh!” the Bosun’s Mate responded.

“Hmmm, a Royal Equestrian Air Navy vessel? Give me a firing solution on that ship!” the captain shouted at his bridge officers.

“Sir? Fire on the Air Navy? Why?” Tarnish, the Deringer’s gunnery officer, asked.

“They’re heading right for the wall! All they’re going to do is tell people ‘it’s going to be all right!’ ‘Don’t worry!’ Ponies don’t need to hear that! They need to run! Now give me a firing solution on the ship!” Cold Stone screamed at him. He had just about lost it with Celestia’s military forces. In his mind, they had abandoned the ponies affected by the wall of red, and he didn’t need them.

“Aye sir, brassball guns one, two, and three loaded with standard shot, firing solution on bearing Oh-three-four-one with a fifteen foot lead!” Tarnish responded.

“Good! Ready guns one, two, and three!” Cold Stone waited a few seconds. “Salvo!” he shouted. Three cannons boomed and their deadly copper and brass projectiles hurled towards the Highlander.

The group of five ponies was still standing on the bow of the Highlander, gazing out the stampede of skyships when the Deringer’s guns boomed. “Was that..? DOWN!” Barzano yelled at the top of his lungs. All five ponies immediately ducked as two copper projectiles flew over their heads.

“Who just shot at us?” Cloudbolt asked, whirling his head around. As he did, one of the shots impacted the starboard thwart, and the ponies were knocked off their feet.

“There!” Barzano pointed at a class three skyship, carrying several smoking guns.

“What do we do?” Michael demanded. “We’re screwed if they keep shooting!” Barzano looked at Cloudbolt.

“Why don’t you give him a nice Air Navy warning?” Barzano asked Cloud.

“Uh...I’m only a cadet! I can’t act like an officer….” he responded.

“Oh come on Cloud!”

“What am I supposed to say?” Cloudbolt demanded.

He sighed “Let me do it,” Barzano said. His horn flared as he used magic to project his voice. “Unknown vessel!” He yelled. “You are firing on a Royal Air Navy vessel! We are carrying a weapon of mass destruction! If you continue your assault, not only will you be committing treason, but we WILL DESTROY YOU!” Barzano levitated his device above the Highlander’s deck, and the Deringer abruptly ceased firing. “Alright, let’s see how much damage those bastards did to my ship.” Barzano, Cloudbolt, and Michael walked backdeck to look for any obvious damage. Flarania stayed on the deck, her mouth wide open, shaking. DerpTime was still sitting at the bow, drawing a picture. His only comment during the ordeal was, “Argh, they messed up my sketch!”

The three ponies walked backdeck. As they came down the stairs, they stopped when they saw a large dent in the starboard side. “Wow! It put a dent in, and bounced right off!” Michael commented. “That’s some thick armor!”

“Yup, and that was only brassball shot,” Barzano said. Cloudbolt walked right in front of him.

“Alright, I cannot take it anymore. Barzano, where do you learn all this stuff? How do you know how to fly skyships, make warheads, and how do you have knowledge of naval guns? If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were an admiral in the air navy!” Cloudbolt said.

“For another time Cloudbolt,” Barzano laughed. “You get some rest, I’ll take the helm.” Barzano walked updeck, leaving Cloud and Michael to their rooms. As Barzano poked his head out of the hatch, he noticed that the sun was already down and that DerpTime was no longer on the first deck. He also saw Flarania, slumped on deck, crying her eyes out. “Oh no…” Barzano walked over to her, picked her up, and promptly gave her a warm hug. “Hey! Shhh! Don’t cry,” he comforted her. Flarania choked up words as she tried to speak between tears.

“They shot at us! We could have crashed! You could have died! I could have died!” she bawled. Barzano held her tighter.

“But we’re ok! Shhhh!”

“Y-yeah..thanks to you.. oh sweet Celestia! I owe you my life!” Flarania stared into his eyes, tears streaming down her own.

“Hey now! Don’t get like that! You don’t owe me anything,” Barzano held her farther back, and then proceeded to plant a warm kiss on her lips. Barzano smiled.

Flara cried into his mane. Barzano let her borrow her face into his mane for a few minutes before lifting her face up.

“Flarania, as cute as you are, can you stop crying now?” Barzano said lightly. Flarania only smiled and returned Barzano’s kiss.

“Hey, you’re an astronomer, tell me some constellations!” She said, pointing to the sky. Barzano laughed.

“Alright! Well, if you look straight up,” Barzano pointed at a group of stars just under the front of their derigable, “You can see Scorpio, and to the left of it a ways,” Barzano swept his hoof across the sky, “That’s Orion.” Barzano kept pointing out constellations to Flarania, who had put her head on his shoulder, and wrapped a blanket around the both of them.

The next morning, and the sixth one in the air, the five ponies awoke to see a towering red wall, roughly two miles ahead of them, covering the horizon. Cloudbolt had, once again, cooked breakfast and made coffee for the other ponies in the group, which he was thanked for several times. Barzano had prepped the nuclear device on the first deck, and had taken the helm. Cloudbolt had taken the spotter position on the top deck, Michael and DerpTime were sitting at the chaukrail, and Flarania stood next to Barzano at the helm. “So, what are we going to do with that….thing….again?” Flarania nervously asked Barzano.

“Well… the idea is that we kind just fly right up to the wall, set the three-minute timer, and throw the device into the wall,” Barzano responded. “And if all goes well, the wall should slowly vanish.” Flarania nodded. She already knew the plan, she just wanted reassurance from Barzano that everything would be ok. The last leg of the journey yielded only silence. As the Highlander approached the cascade wall, Barzano let Cloudbolt take the helm as he levitated his device.

“Steady now,” Barzano warned. The wall was now within two hundred yards of the skyship. “Hard to starboard on my mark.” With a stiff nod from Cloudbolt, Barzano activated the device. The light clicked on orange, indicating the device was armed and working, and in the time it had taken him to do so, the wall had closed in another hundred yards. “Cloud, ahead quarter please,” Barzano said. Cloudbolt adjusted the controls on his console to reduce speed. “Steady….MARK!” Barzano yelled as he thrusted the device into the wall. The Highlander swung to starboard and the ponies were thrown to the deck. Partially thanks to Cloudbolt’s piloting, but mostly thanks to luck, the Highlander missed the wall entirely. “Cloudbolt, ahead full please,” Barzano said.

“You don’t need to tell me,” Cloudbolt responded with a smirk. The ponies, save Cloudbolt, then turned to observe the wall. The Wall began to shimmer, and the red faded from it, leaving an empty black.

“Bar? What does that mean?” Michael asked.

“I have no idea….” They stood staring at the black emptiness, until the wall suddenly flashed white, and began peeling in on itself. The five of them began cheering and whooping. Shouts of “We did it!” “We did it!” could be heard from everypony in the group, except for DerpTime, who merely looked at the re-synchronizing Equestria and smiled.

The World we Once Knew

Chapter Seven: The World we Once Knew

The festivities aboard the Highlander were beginning to die down. Dinner had been served, and promptly devoured, hugs and kisses exchanged, and ponies, except for Barzano, had gone to sleep. For the first time in days, he sat awake alone. Barzano was the only one worried. He knew that the nation of Brismania was almost completely destroyed by this cascade wall. Barzano worried about what was left of the nation, but eventually his thoughts were put to rest, and he drifted off to sleep.

“Barzano! Barzano wake up!” Barzano blinked open his eyes to see Cloudbolt shaking him awake.

“W-what is it…?” He groggily responded.

“Incoming skyships! They’re carrying guns, and are flying unknown colors!”

“W-what?” Barzano slid out of bed and began slumping updeck.

“See for yourself!” Cloudbolt pointed off their starboard aft quarter. Barzano’s eyes went wide. Three type one skyships were bearing down on them. Through binoculars, he could see guns being loaded as ponies in tattered clothing scurried about the ship. Barzano’s gaze shifted to their flags. The mysterious ships flew a flag that had two hooves crossing each other, and a sword behind them, pointing up.

“C-cloud! Ahead full please!”

“We’re already at maximum speed,” he said worriedly. The guns of the three skyships flashed, and several loud bangs were heard a few seconds afterwards. None of the shots hit the Highlander, and it was clear that they were out of range. For now.

“What’s going on?” Michael said as he emerged from below decks.

“We’re being shot at,” Barzano responded.

“Again?”

“Again.” The mysterious skyships were beginning to get close to the Highlander, and their shells were starting to come within several yards of the ship. But just when the skyships entered range of their five-inch guns, they abruptly turned around and headed off in the opposite direction. “That’s odd…” Barano commented.

“Look!” Michael said. Two Brandor class Equestrian frigates had come out of the clouds, roughly two hundred and thirty yards ahead of the Highlander. When the ships came within fifty yards of the Highlander, an Air Navy officer teleported aboard. Cloudbolt snapped a quick salute.

“Do you know what’s going on? Why are we being shot at?” Barzano asked him.

“Captain Rufus, E.A.N.S. Dominence, and I believe so,” the stout unicorn said. “We’ve just gotten a note from Brismania. They’ve declared war on Euquestria.”